I'm Tired of Movies "Based On True Stories"

Hollywood exaggerates stories. Exaggeration is what sells. Clearly, this is the case when labeling films as “based on true events”, “inspired by actual event”, and the like. After researching films for this post, I learned you can label any movie as true.

For example, The Fourth Kind (2009), a movie marketed as not only being based on actual events, but showing real interviews and footage. The movie depicted alien abductions occurring in Nome, Alaska from the 1960s to 2000s and played interviews from the real victims alongside the dramatized version played by the actors in the movie. This sounds incredibly intriguing until you discover that those “real” videos and “real” victims were actually fake videos portrayed by actors, and extraterrestrial encounters had nothing to do with the Nome disappearances.

I ran across the same issues with The Visitant (2014), a film that I had hopes for considering it had won awards and was based off the events of its own executive producer. Most of her interview on the matter revolves around how the paranormal activity affected her daughter and dog, and how the ghost followed her home after working on The Queen Mary. When I watched the movie, it neglected to add any of these elements to the film, only including small occurrences, such as voices and odd electrical phenomenon, which could be attributed to any paranormal activity.

Lastly, in my quest to find a good true event horror film, I decided to watch The Quiet Ones (2014), a film based on The Philip experiment, which analyzed the possibility that paranormal activities were manmade, being produced from the negative energy given off by a person. The Quiet Ones kept that principle in the film, but then suddenly threw it out the window at the end, attributing the paranormal occurrences to a clairvoyant young girl. At this point, I stopped looking for more movies.

Aside from The Fourth Kind, The Visitant, and The Quiet Ones barely resembling the events in which they are supposed to be based, the liberties these movies took with their origins didn’t save the films from being terrible, in my opinion. None of them scared me even the slightest bit, which is saying something for a person like me who scares easily, and their plots were boring.  

I get why these movies are made. A scary movie becomes even scarier if you can believe it to happen in real life, so why not label as such. The problem is that I could do that for any movie. Every single movie in existence contains elements that have happened in someone else’s life. Nevertheless, does labeling a movie as being true really improve ticket sales or improve their story? Some of the highest grossing horror films contain plots not based on actual events, including The Others (2001), The Haunting (1999), The Ring (2002), and The Grudge (2004), just to name a few. These movies could have claimed inspiration from any number of real occurrences and stamped itself as a true story, but they don’t need to. On the other hand, films like The Fourth Kind appear to latch onto the true story brand to compensate for poor storytelling. All I can say is for these “true story” horror films, most of them need all the help they can get.

Review: Beasts of No Nation (2015)

On Friday October 16, 2015 Netflix released its first original film

Beasts of No Nation (2015) simultaneously on its streaming service as well as theaters. This is an important moment for both streaming services and cinemas, and it’s sadly been fairly overlooked by the public. Original TV shows by Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are already having major impacts on the future of how television works; now streaming services are challenging theaters. Most major theater chains have banned the movie because it violates their traditional 90 day exclusivity release rights, but the film has still been released in a few indie theaters across the country, which will ensure it will be in the award race. As Netflix has more original films being released down the road, and other streaming services have similar plans, this may be a watershed moment for the future of cinema. Now for my review:

The film is set in an unnamed African country and tells the story of a young boy named Agu (played brilliantly by newcomer Abraham Attah). A coup is held and the whole country falls into chaos. His mother and younger siblings flee, but Agu, his father and his brother are forced to stay behind. Soldiers of the new government soon attack the village and kill Agu’s father and brother and while Agu is fleeing, he is captured by rebel forces. The rebels are led by an enigmatic leader simply known as The Commandant played by Idris Elba. The Commandant submits Agu to a grueling training and slowly strips away at his innocence to turn him into a child soldier in his army.

Idris Elba has had an impressive career known for movies like Pacific Rim (2013) and Prometheus (2012) as well as for TV shows like The Wire and Luther, giving incredible performances in almost everything he does, but this is possibly his best performance to date. In most films like this The Commandant would be turned into a cruel man who forces his soldiers to do terrible things simply because he says so, but Elba makes him seem caring and portrays him as a father to his soldiers; they follow him not out of fear, but out of respect and love. Idris Elba always exudes this strong sense of power and he uses it well here. He stands out on the battlefield and, while everyone else ducks and flinches as bullets fly past him, he hardly moves--a bit reminiscent of Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now (1979). His charisma is equal parts tender and cruel, which is what draws Agu and the other young soldiers to him. Equally brilliant is Abraham Attah as Agu, who does an incredibly convincing job of showing the development of his character as he is submitted to war, violence, murder, rape, sexual abuse, drugs and starvation. He goes from childlike innocence to murderous to disillusioned and yet is somehow still able to bring some hope to the story through a monologue at the end. This is the type of performance that would be near impossible for an experienced actor to pull off, which makes Attah’s performance that much more impressive.

Of course great performances are nothing without a good script and direction, and luckily Beasts of No Nation was written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Sin Nombre, Jane Eyre and the first season of True Detective) who finds a great balance of showing enough violence and horror to draw you in and help you understand the hell Agu is living in without taking it too far. Even in the few scenes where it seems violence is treated nonchalantly, I think it is attempting to show Agu’s disillusionment toward violence. The topic of child soldiers is an intense one; there aren’t many people who would be willing to take it on, and there are even less that could do it well, but Fukunaga took up the challenge and succeeded.

It’s an interesting choice by Netflix to release this as their first film as it’s not attempting to draw in the average viewer and it’s a pretty controversial subject. The movie has received a lot of flak for depicting Africa as a war zone filled with monstrous men, when in reality it is actually largely peaceful, which is an understandable complaint. I wish there were more films that showed the peaceful side of Africa, but at the same time I think it’s important to not forget that stuff like this is happening every day in some countries. The film isn’t trying to say men like this only come from Africa. Men like this have come from every country including America. They are bred out of anarchy and chaos and simply want to create more. They kill because they can and take everything for themselves. They have no nationality or creed. They are hardly even men anymore; they are beasts of no nation.

Review By: Ben Ritter

Rating: 4.5/5

REVIEW: Stage Fright (2014)

I cannot do scary movies. Given how often my hands seem to find themselves in front of my eyes, it could be argued that I’ve never watched a horror film all the way through. But alas, October is quickly approaching, and scary movies are an important part of Halloween, so a wuss like me is charged with the task of finding a “not so scary” scary movie, when we happen to find ourselves in the mood. So, find yourself in similar situation, my answer for you is the movie Stage Fright (2014).

The movie begins opening night of a play called, The Haunting of the Opera, and follows the play’s resurrection to a financially struggling summer theater camp. The two camp cooks, Camilla (Allie MacDonald) and Buddy (Douglas Smith), fall under the care of camp manager Roger McCall (Michael Lee Aday, also known as Meatloaf) and former flame of Buddy and Camilla’s mother. Their mother, played by Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), was the original lead actress during the play’s Broadway opening night, only to be stabbed to death in her dressing room by the Opera Ghost. Ten years later, the camp decides to do The Haunting of the Opera with a twist, prompting young Camilla to audition for the role that her mother once filled. The campers spend weeks preparing for the play only to have a brutal murder cast a shadow over opening night; however, the show must go on. As opening night begins, Camilla discovers more mutilated corpses of some of the campers, and unmasks the killer, all while the show is still going on. Camilla is finally able to stumble back into the play in its last scene and receives an enthusiastic applause, while covered in someone else’s blood.

Stage Fright falls somewhere in between fun campy horror film and pure ridiculousness. Much like the movie Scream (1996), a movie with common themes, Stage Fright incorporates some slashing, unorthodox killing, and a goofy looking masked villain with a thirst for revenge. Nevertheless, Stage Fright also brings some originality to the film. Given the setting of the movie, several choreographed musical numbers take place. The killer is even shown playing the guitar and singing at some points, which if I’m being honest, were the weirdest and sometimes the scariest portions of the movie.

My reason for watching Stage Fright was to find a movie that fit the horror genre that I could actually sit through without leaving the room out of fright. I was definitely able to do that during this movie, but there were still moments where I jumped in my seat, muttered “oh my God”, and diverted my eyes. I am not saying this is a good movie. However, the musical elements added a twist that I have never seen in a horror film, and it not only reminds you that Meatloaf is still alive, but that he can actually act decently well. If you are a hardcore scary movie lover, this movie won’t do it for you, and you will probably hate it. If you’re like me, this movie won’t make you piss yourself, which is all I really asked for. 

Review by: Morgan Fisher
Rating: 2.5/5